Means for adjusting the tensioning of material wound on a beam



Nov. 25, 1958 H. FAZIS MEANS FOR ADJUSTING THE TENSIONING OF MATERIALWOUND ON A BEAM 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 8, 1955 8 M YN n n vQ VN O0V NN m V 0N v n, a 0 9 AM 2 E I I S u 72 1 .H :31 m w u u mm V N v w 3w mv x a m Q. Q wm N s 9 rm 3m EN RN 7 3 G. .A v m 0N VP w 3N v 2.

Now 25,1958 H FAZIS 2,861,439

MEANS FOR ADJUSTING THE TENSIONING OF MATERIAL WOUND ON A BEAM FiledNov. 8, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 25, 1958 H. FAZIS MEANS FOR ADJUSTING THE TENSIONING OF MATERIAL WOUND ON A BEAM Filed Nov. 8, 1955 3Sheets-Sheet 5 't'erial at every moment.

United S ates Patent MEANS FOR ADJUSTlNGTHE TENSIONING'OF MATERIAL woUNnoN ABEAM Hermann Fazis, Weil (Rhine), Germany, assignor to DavidRothschild, Zurich, Switzerland Application November 8,1955, Serial No.545,707

3 Claims. (Cl.'-64'30) Thepresent invention relates to-means foradjusting the tensionof material wound on -a beam.

The uniform winding and unwinding of strip-shaped .-material-and moreparticularlyof'textile materialonto and exerted on the beam cannotremain constant and it must vary inaccordance with the diameter of thewound ma- To this end, adjusting means have already been proposedwherein a feeler is adapted :to test-the'amount of material wound on theshaft while the value thus-measured serves for adjustingcorrespondingly-the torquereferred to. -Such adjusting means are howevercomparatively .intricate and uneconomical.

It is, thereforeyone object cf-the present invention to provide-aquitedifferent method whichrelies on the fact that it is possible to-makethetorque exerted on the-beam responsive 'tothe weight-at the'momentconsidered of the reeled or wound material since-the increaseand-decrease '-of-the'- reeldiameter corresponds to a simultaneousincrease-and-decrease of the reeled weight.

It is another-object of-the present invention toprovide meansfor-adjusting the tension of material wound on a beam, wherein thecoupling through which the beam is connected -with thearrangementadjusting the tensioning *of the material is improved.

sIt is, thus, still another object of the present inven-:tion'-to-pr0vide means for-adjusting of material wound "on a-beam,'whereinthe introduction of the beam rod into the head of adriving shaft is performed inaa much easier -and reliable manner.

-It-=is yet another object of thepresentinvention to provide-meansfor-adjusting ofmaterial wound on.a beam, wherein the cooperating partsof :the locking member and the projectionand recessestare designed insuch-manner thatthe handwheel or the likellocking member is rocked itsopen inoperative position;

,FigJZ is-a section along the lines 2-2 of 'Fig. 1, shown on a largerscale;

a Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side viewof the 'couplingin its locked. oroperative position;

;Fig. 4 is anend viewbfQthe coupling,-,frorn thebeam [d Side.

ice

' Referring .now to the drawing and-in particular to Fig. 1, the centralbore ofan otherwise entirely closedcasing 1 carries a rockingballbearing 2 the inner race of which is rigid with a stub shaft 3. Thestub shaft 3 forms a two-arm rocking lever, the rocking axis of whichextends through the center 7 of the rocking ball bearing 2. The stubshaft 3 includes a short lever arm 3a projecting out of the casing 1 andthe outer end of which'carries a supporting member 4 while the other,longer lever arm 3b is completely-enclosed inside'the casing 1.

The supporting member 4 has a U-shaped vertical cross-section so that itdefines a four-sided recess 4a (Fig. 4) open at one end, said supportingmember 4 being provided with ashiftable locking member adapted to holdin position one end o'f-the beam 5 and matching the shape of thesupporting memberengaged thereby. The locking .member is constituted inthe case shown inthe drawingby a handwheel 28, the body of saidhandwheel being rockably' mounted on the supporting member 4 so as torock upon the transverse axis 29 withreference to the supporting member4; with a view to introduce and to remove, respectively, the beam 5 intoand out of position, the handwheel 28 is hifted into oblique position,shown in Fig. 1, in whichposition it engages an abutment on the casingformed-by a bevelled surface area 1a, while it uncovers the opening inthe supporting member 4. Before startingthe operation, the handwheel isrocked back into the position shown in Fig. 3 upon its axis -29 until itabuts against a top '30 on the supporting member 4, at which moment itlies in-itslocking position perpendicular to the axis-of the stub-shaft3, while the handwheel 28 closes the 'opening in the supporting member 4and the beam-5 is locked in a=position in which it is coaxial With theaxis of vthe stub-shaft'3.

The stationary section lb' at the front end of the casing 1 preventsth'ereturn of the-handwheel 28 into a position other thanthat illustrated"as long as the foursidedrecessda in the-supporting, member 4 is notdirected "upwardly. "In-case the driving shaft is caused to turn ablymounted .in any desired'conventional manner.

while-the handwheel 28 is in its inoperative position as"a'cons'equence'of negligence or oversight, the stationary section urgesautomatically the wheel 28'upwardly and locks thereby of necessity thesupporting member 4 in position.

The other'end-of the beam (not shownlcan be rotat- -A rotation ofthehandwheel 28 causes a rotation of the stub-shaft '3 into the position*shown in Fig. 1, in which the opening in the supporting member-4 facesupwardly, was to allow theintroduction-and removal of the beam j5zintosaid opening, which-operation isfurthered through the uiding ribsorfins28b formed on the web 28a of the handwheel 28.

:The longer arm of the'leverzformed by'the st-ub-shaft 3, which" isfarther from' the supporting member 4 extends through its outer reduceddiameter end inside a hollow carrier9- disposed inside the casing 1- andthe upper surface ofwhich is formed'as acamwltl which is engaged bya'membe'r constituted by a follower roller 11. To this 'end, theupper"sectionof 'the hollow carrier 9 is formed as said cam surface10-whichforms advantageously a spherical cap over which 'the'follower'r'oller -11-"is adaptedto 'run. This foll'owerroller' -11 is'carried byan adjusting lever '12 theinner-end-of which is ri idly connected with a'forked member 31, as illustrated in Fig.2,

as provided by-a'connection by means of avpin-32. The

forkedmember 31.is provided with a central slot in which wtheroller-ll'is:rotat-ably mounted by means ofa transversesoindle33. The arms 34ofthe forkedlmember 31,

one of which is shown only in thedrawinq, form vertical ,guides for; thehollow carrier 9 and are pivotallysecured to coaxial pivots 35 oneof'which only'is shown in'the f pivots35 crosses the axis 6 of thestub-shaft 3 (Fig. 1).

. As illustrated in Fig. 2, the adjusting lever 12 is tubular and isprovided with two diametrically opposed longitudinalslots 36 engaged bya locking pin 15. Said pin is rigidly secured ina correspondingtransverse bore of the head 37 of a push rod 38 sliding inside thetubular lever 12 and the outer end of which forms a threaded projectiononto which a ball shaped member 26a is screwed.

This ball shaped member 26a is located outside the tubular lever 12 inwhich a compression spring 39 surrounding the pushrrod 38 is located,the spring 39 engaging at one end the head 37 of the rod 38 and at itsother end the inturned terminal edge of the tubular lever The spring 39is subjected to a preliminary tensioning so that it constrains thelocking pin 15 to remain in its lever-locking position shown in Fig. 2.In this position, the lockingpin 15 engages selectively one of thenotches 14 in the casing 1 so as to prevent any undesired angularmovement of the adjusting lever 12; a series of such notches 14 isformed on the outer surface of the casing 1 to either ide of a notchformed symmetrically in i the vertical medial longitudinal plane of saidcasing, and through which slot the adjusting lever 12 projects. Thesenotches thus permit of positioning of the adjusting lever 12 andconsequently the follower roller 11 or presser member is retained in anyof a number of different angular positions.

The lower surface of the hollow carrier 9, is subjected to the action ofa compression spring 40 the lower end of which engages the bottom of thecasing 1; the spring 40 urges the surface 10 of the hollow carrier 9permanently into operative engagement with the follower roller 11 and isguided by a guiding rod 41 extending through it andheld between thehollow carrier 9 and the longitudinal slot 42 in the bottom of thecasing 1. In the chamber formed inside the hollow carrier 9, thestub-shaft 3 is held by means of two roller bearings 8 and 8a and of athrust bearing 19 fitted between the latter. This chamber in the hollowcarrier 9 encloses also to the rear of the stub-shaft 3 a cup-shapedthrust member 17 which bears against a threaded pivot 16 screwedrearwardly into the centrally tapped bore of the support: 9, while it isheld fast by a counter nut in the adjusted position assumed by it.Saidthrust member 17 engages theouter race of the ball bearing 8a whichengages on the other hand a spacing member 18 fitted between said rollerbearing 8a and the thrust'bearing 19. On the opposite side of saidthrust bearing 19, is inserted a ring 20 cooperating with the inner raceof the farther ball bearing 8, which latter en- 3, one half of afriction coupling, the other half of which is formed by a chain wheel 26and an auxiliary wheel 25 sliding longitudinally with reference to theWheel 26 and revolving in unison therewith by; means of transverse pins27. The auxiliary wheel 25 is freely rotatable be- .7 tween ,the brakelinings 24 and 24a which latter are carried by, the sides of the clutchplates 22 and 22a which face each other.. T he chain wheel 26 is freelyrotatable with reference .to the stub-shaft 3 by interposition of a 1ball bearing 44 and it is permanentlyturned in a manner (not shown) bymeans of atmotor-driven chain, therotation of which is performed in thede ired direction of rotation of the beam 5.

' The fraction of the weight transferred by the beam 5 through its rodto the supporting member 4, which corresponds normally to one half ofthe weight of the loaded beam 5 at the moment considered, is transferredagain, proportionally with the ratio between the operative lever arms ofthe stub-shaft 3 to either side of their pivotal axis 7 and through thebearings 8, 8a and 19, onto the carrier 9 and from the latter to theroller or the like presser member 11. The reaction pressure thusproduced is shown in Fig. l by the arrow P and may be divided into avertical component V and a horizontal component H. The verticalcomponent V balances the fraction of the weight of the beam 5 which actson the supporting memher 4 whereas the horizontal component H istransferred through the screw 16 to the thrust member 17 and thencethrough the outer race of the ball bearing 8a, the spacing member 18,the thrust bearing 19 and the ring 20 to the inner race of the bearing 8and thence through the transmission member 21 to the plate 22. Thisleads to a corresponding slight axial shifting of said plate 22,accompanied by a corresponding shifting of the plate 22a whereby thefriction coupling is engaged to an extent depending on the magnitude ofthe compression force H and consequently the coupling linings 24 and thelike transfer a corresponding torque to the plates 22 and 22a andtherethrough to the stub-shaft 3 so that the beam 5 is angularly rotatedthrough the supporting member 4.

Thus, as'the winding procedure progresses and the weight of the beamincreases, the horizontal component H'defining the force exerting on thefriction coupling increases correspondingly, which horizontal componentis produced 'by the reaction of the follower roller 11. Consequently thedriving torque transferred through the friction coupling increases insuch manner that at least approximate constancy of tensioning for thematerial that is being wound is achieved, regardless of the gradualmodification in the diameter of the reel on the beam 5.

Instead of exerting a driving torque, it is possible also to exert abraking torque on the beam 5 so that the chain wheel 26 is no longerdriven, but is braked.

In so far as the speed of rotation of the chain wheel is higher than thespeed of rotation of the beam 5 as should always be the case, whendriving the beam 5 through the friction coupling, the latter obviously'slips.

When one wishes to shift the control lever 12, the attendant takes holdof the ball 26a and draws out the latter, by compressing the spring 29to release the locking pin 15 with reference to the notch 14. One maythus rock the lever 12 into another position and after release of theball 26a by the attendant, the spring 39 urgesthe pin 15 inwardly sonsto engage another notch 14 facing it. As it is apparentfrom Fig. 1, thelever 12 can be rocked beyond its vertical position-whereby thepositioning force H reaches a zero value, so that the coupling isdisengaged.

While I have disclosed one embodiment of the present invention, it is tobe understood that this embodiment is given by example only and not in alimiting sense, the scope of the present invention being determined bythe objects and the claims.

I claim:

1. A weight sensitive friction coupling comprising a casing having acentrally disposed bore, a pivot-type bearing having an inner and an.outer race disposed in and carried by said casing, a shaft rigid withsaid inner race and mounted in said casing for rotating movement and forrocking movement upon a pivot point disposed in the rotating axis ofsaid shaft, one end of the latter being adapted to be subjected to avariable weight, a swingable lever pivotally secured to said casing andadjustable to a plurality of angular positions relative to the rotatingaxis of said shaft, and means forexerting a thrust in axial direction ofsaid shaft from said lever dependent upon its angular position, afriction coupling including two sections, one of said sectionsconstituting driving and braking means, respectively, and the other ofsaid sections being secured to said shaft for common rotation, said oneend of said shaft permitted to perform a rocking movement to vary thefriction of said coupling as a function of the weight placed upon orremoved from said shaft, and, thereby to vary the speed of rotation ofsaid shaft.

2. The coupling, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said shaft constitutesa double lever rockable in said pivottype bearing.

3. The coupling, as set forth in claim 2, wherein said References Citedin the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,827,893 Kindelmann etal. Oct. 20, 1931 2,436,418 Bradford Feb. 24, 1948 2,729,079 Kuehn Jan.3, 1956 2741.102 Monkley Apr. 10, 1956

